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Lesotho Readies For Elections

Lesotho Readies For Elections

From ABC News

The Maseru Sun hotel in Lesotho says it welcomes families and business travelers. But most guests on a recent weekend were South African security forces, sent to keep order after a bout of violent unrest that has raised questions about the viability of the southern African kingdom as a sovereign nation.

While the mountainous country with a mostly rural population of 2 million plans to hold elections in February, it has yet to shake the kind of concerns about military meddling in politics that have faded over the years in much of the region.

The simple round huts and herds of sheep dotting the rugged countryside belie Lesotho’s critical importance as a source of highlands water for parched South Africa, an economic heavyweight in Africa whose borders envelop the kingdom. Monumental engineering feats, including dams and tunnels, deliver that key resource from Lesotho, which has a proud narrative of independence but has sometimes been described derisively as another South African province.

On Aug. 30, soldiers converged on some police stations, a police officer was killed in a shootout, radio stations went off the air and Prime Minister Thomas Thabane fled to South Africa, alleging he was the victim of a coup attempt. The military said it was acting on information that some police planned to arm political protesters.

 

Written by CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA/Read more at ABC News